Battle of Renfrew

Battle of Renfrew
Part of Scottish internal conflicts
Date around 1164 Location Renfrew, Scotland Result Royal Victory
Belligerents
Supporters of King Malcolm IV of Scotland	Norse-Gaelic Islesmen
Commanders and leaders
Walter FitzAlan	Somerled†
Strength
?	?
Casualties and losses
?	?

The Battle of Renfrew in 1164 was a significant engagement near Renfrew, Scotland. The army of King Malcolm IV of Scotland (Malcolm the Maiden) led by Walter fitz Alan was attacked by forces led by Somerled mac Gillebride (Somerled), the Norse-Gaelic King of Mann and the Isles, Lord of Argyll, Cinn Tìre (Kintyre) and Lorne. Somerled was killed and his forces were defeated.

Background

After defeating and deposing the Norse Gofraidh mac Amhlaibh (Godred II), King of Mann and the Isles during the Battle of the Isle of Man in 1158, Prince Fergus of Galloway was approached by powerful Scottish nobles to help in overthrowing Malcolm IV in the "Revolt of the Earls" when they tried to trap him inside the town of Perth in 1160. But his Norman cavalry defeated them. Prince Fergus then revolted in 1160 and tried ti replace Malcolm with his second cousin and replace him on the throne with the 20 year old William fitz William, the “Boy of Egremont d. 1160, son of William fitz Duncan, grandson of King Duncan II of Scotland. Malcolm defeated Fergus in three invasions of Galloway while Somerled stayed neutral in Argyll. With Fergus defeated, Malcolm IV's Norman Lords at court were in the king's ear trying to persuade him to take lands from Somerled who had come into his peace in 1160. One of these Anglo-Norman lords was likely Walter fitz Alanm the king's stewart who held lands and Renfrew Castle, Renfrew 13 milees west of Glasgow. Somerled gathered 160 ships carrying about 40 infantry each.

Battle at Renfrew

Somerled became aware of tthe Norman plots against him. Walter fitz Alan's held Renfrew blocking the strategic Firth of Clyde access to the Scottish heartland. Somerled decided to make a preemptive strike, assembling an army of 6,000 from all parts of his Argyll and the Hebrides and Dublin. He then had his army carried to the shores of Firth of Clyde in an armada of 160 birlinns. After landing and marching towards Renfrew, the two sides met near Paisley on the present site of Glasgoe airport and the battle began. The Scottish local army, led by Walter fitz Alan, the High Steward of Scotland consisted of Scoto-Norman knights and armoured men-at-arms, and Somerled's Gaelic and Norse warriors were no match against them. Somerled was wounded by a javelin and then killed by the sword of his opponents who then beheaded him. His army fled westward towards his ships.but were pursuedby cavalry. At the ships Somerled's eldest son Gillecallum, from his first marriage, was killed with many others at the ships. Among the Gaelic, Celtic and Norse army many were slain.

Memorial

An octagonal plinth monument was erected by Walter FitzAlan commemorating the site of the battle. Unfortunately the plinth was removed in 1779 when the significance of the monument was clouded. On his seal of 1170, Walter FitzAlan is depicted leaning against the pillar.

References

• Patterson, Raymond Campbell (2008). The Lords of the Isles, A history of Clan Donald. Edinburgh: Birlinn Limited. ISBN 1-84158-718-4. 
• Adam, Frank (1970). The Clans, Septs, and Regiments of the Scottish Highlands. Edinburgh and London: Johnston and Bacon. ISBN 0-7179-4500-6. 
• Browne, James (1909). The history of Scotland, its Highlands, regiments and clans. Edinburgh, London and Boston: Francis A. Nicholls & Co.. ISBN 0-548-84667-7. 

Documentary and Narrative

• Anderson, A. O. ed., Early Sources of Scottish History, 1922.
• Argyll Family Letters, Maitland Club, 1839.
• The Book of Clanranald, in Reliquae Celticae, vol. 2, ed. A. MacBain and J. Kennedy, 1894.
• The Chronicles of Mann and the Sudries, ed. and trans. P. A. Munch, 1874.
• MacDonald, Hugh, History of the Macdonalds, in Highland papers vol. 1, 1914.

Secondary

• Brown A. L. The Cistercian Abbey of Saddell, Kintyre, in the Innes Review, vol. 20 1969.
• Duncan, A. A. M. and Brown, A. L., Argyll and the Isles in the earlier Middle Ages, in Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, vol. 90 1956-7.
• MacDonald, A & A, Clan Donald, 1896-1904.
• McDonald, R. A., The Death and Burial of Somerled of Argyll, in West Highland Notes and Queries, 1991.
• McDonald, R. A., The Kingdom of the Isles: Scotland's Western Seaboard, 1100-c1336, 1997.